Two words:
Latina Engineer
Black Latina Valedictorian Good Scoring Engineer. Chance of Ivy acceptance sans a good essay 75-85 percent at least. I’m in favor of the affirmative action. I’m against pretending she was admitted in any way because of this essay.
How about we all go back to “congratulations!” instead of picking her apart?? This is somebody’s CHILD here.
Although not perfect, I thought the essay was well written. It was thoughtful and whimsical. The bottom line was that it gave me the feeling that this person is not only intelligent, but adventurous in life. Along with her excellent academic achievements and test scores, I think this made her appealing to these schools. This young lady seems like she’ll make a positive contribution to the campus life of whatever college she ends up choosing.
“How about we all go back to “congratulations!” instead of picking her apart?? This is somebody’s CHILD here.”
With the exception of a few obviously “sour grapes” posts, I think a lot of people are trying to figure out the magic recipe that made this kid so successful with regards to acceptances.
Personally, I place a lot of weight on the essay, but that’s because I have kids that are good writers, so I hope it made a difference for the kid because it might help mine. Other people might have other biases that lead them to hope that something else the girl did/was helped her to get in…
I agree that this is an effort to process the reasons for this student’s results, not to attack her.
Somewhere (Facebook?) the student herself posted that her mom shopped the story to the media with the student’s permission. Personally, I don’t get the desire to go public, but when a parent seeks publicity on her kid’s behalf, she has to reasonably expect that people will analyze/scrutinize the results, and that not all of the ensuing discussion will be strictly complimentary. I haven’t read this whole thread, but I don’t see ad hominem attacks.
There are plenty of kids who were accepted to multiple Ivies this year, and I’m betting that many of them, like this student, submitted creative and unconventional essays. Most of them did not choose to go public with the news.
I see an implication that the girl got in, not for her achievements, but for her skin color and ethnicity. In other words, she got admitted for factors out of her control. (This is a subtle way of putting down deserving minorities - downplay any accomplishment because they “obviously” got in for other reasons. This shows up quite often in CC.). In fact, several posts right out said she got in in spite of her essay. I don’t think the essay got her into these schools but the essay also did not keep her out of these schools. In fact, her essay set her apart from thousands of applications and it was her grades and accomplishments that got her in.
There is no magic recipe. There never was one. People looking for The Formula will always be disappointed.
There are a few posters who are mentioning AA, but not the majority. Once again, the problem with these discussions is that they often begin with a faulty premise or a biased original post that leads the discussion in a certain direction. That in turn results in a set of responses to the OP that are skewed. In this particular case, the article in the OP strongly suggests that it was the young lady’s COSTCO essay that was the tipping factor for the applicant. Why else print the whole essay? I think what some are “attacking” is that idea. They are also discussing whether or not they feel the essay answered the prompt and whether it was so very exceptional that we can accept that it was the reason she received so many acceptances. Those who mention race are saying that her ethnicity and prospective major were likely as, or more, influential than the essay. It cannot be denied that there are affirmative action and diversity policies in place at top colleges, so why is it unreasonable to say that her ethnicity may have placed a role? I don’t think it’s a race issue, since the same accusations are thrown around about recruited athletes, legacies, and developmental admits.
One last comment, then I will bow out. I believe this student got in to these schools for a bunch of reasons – both having to do with her accomplishments AND her profile. She’s a woman interested in and with tangible accomplishments in STEM, she’s the valedictorian of her class, sounds like she had good test scores. Do I believe her status as an underrepresented minority helped her in the applicant pool? Sure. Colleges are always looking for talented students who are also members of underrepresented minorities.
As far as the essay goes, we just don’t know. We all read with our own lenses, and admissions officers are no different. Some readers may have liked this essay very much, some may not have. That’s why students are cautioned not to write on controversial topics (this obviously was not one); you just don’t know the proclivities and life experiences of the person on the other side of the computer screen.
If the title of the article had been “Exceptional DE Teen Earns Admissions to Five Ivies” instead of “Essay About Love for Costco Wins Student Admission to Five Ivies”, I think the responses would have been different.
There is a large pool of exceptional students who apply to the Ivys. So large that most won’t be admitted to any and certainly not HYPS. Being a URM significantly increases the chance of admission for these applicants. That’s just a fact. Indeed it would be highly unlikely that a White applicant would be admitted to so many Ivys with the exact same stats and essay. ( they might get one or two). Every school wants to increase their diversity with highly talented URM students. Being a URM may be something she has no control over but that doesn’t make it being a tipping point unfair. URM’s must navigate a world that is not always easy.
But the bottom line is that when you are talking about a URM who has this high level of accomplishment the essay is going to be pretty much irrelevant and the news stories that ignore this are silly. I do think was a good essay though.
What a fabulous essay. I read a lot of college essays, and I’d place this among the top. And I’m glad the essay isn’t “perfect” – how many of us are?
I think what made it interesting, though, was the Costco essay. However, reworded so it doesn’t imply that she got in because of the essay would have been better. (Note my thread title doesn’t imply she got in because or despite the essay. Just the facts, they accepted her and she did write about Costco.
You do realize the girl (and parents) have no control over headlines, right? Criticize the headlines for being sensational but don’t pick apart the girl because of the headlines.
Did anyone else notice that her essay is 5 words over the limit. …and it would have been 12 words over if she hadn’t invented 7 doublewords !
SlackerMomMD, neither I nor anyone else assumed the girl selected the title of the article, nor criticized her for doing so. We are allowed to question the premise of the title. In fact, doing so gives her more credit because it presumes that her academic qualifications amassed over years were the primary reason she was admitted–not the work of few hours.
Sorry, but she deserves all the comments – good and bad. She chose to make her essay and results public. Sure, the HS may have made the results public, but there is no way the essay gets posted without her approval. Even award-winning authors get criticized. If she didn’t want criticism, she could have easily kept the essay private.
Look, I wouldn’t want my kids to be in the papers for all the tea in China, but it’s mean-spirited to rag on the family for being naive enough to allow it. In an era where (for the life of me, I don’t get this) city papers routinely report on stupid high school football and basketball happenings, I can’t blame a family of a smart kid for being pleased to be recognized on academics.
Which is exactly why I ask what publicity whore shopped this out to the media?
Not a good thing.
She seems like a great kid.
Too bad.
@Pizzagirl, naive my ass.
If the article was about my kid getting into 5 great schools of music because of his essay…
My response would have been his hook was - Great Clarinetist
And the student here her hook was - Latina Engineer
The big picture look would then uncover great grades, great test scores and the rest of the profile.
A unique essay doesn’t hurt either…